


Squash Soup

by MayContainBlueberries



Category: Kairos (O'Keefe) Series - Madeleine L'Engle
Genre: Autumn, Cooking Fluff, Family, Food, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:56:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayContainBlueberries/pseuds/MayContainBlueberries
Summary: The Murry Kids make some soup!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littleskywatcher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleskywatcher/gifts).



> Based on [this post](http://imaginariumgeographica.tumblr.com/post/133195521784/gibbytod-imaginariumgeographica).

Dennys followed Sandy into the kitchen, dropping his own armful of squash beside his brother’s.

“We could probably feed a small country with the amount of soup we’re gonna get,” Sandy remarked.

Danny hummed in agreement. “We don’t have to use all of it for soup though. We could make casseroles…”

“Pie…”

“Salad…”

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway interrupted them.

“Meg’s home,” Dennys said.

Sure enough the door banged and soon after Meg came into the kitchen carrying a paper grocery bag.

Fort raised his head sleepily, tail banging happily against the counter.

“Someone’s tuckered out,” Meg said, dropping her bag on the counter and bending to pat the dog’s head. The banging increased in frequency.

“You got apple cider!” Sandy exclaimed, peering in the grocery bag.

Dennys grabbed the bag from his twin, “And the ginger, thanks.”

“And extra cinnamon,” Meg said. “I splurged and got real cinnamon sticks.”

“Good,” Dennys said, “this is gonna exhaust our stores.” He picked up the little spice jar of cinnamon, which was looking sadly depleted.

“So,” Sandy said, “we’ve got to roast the squash first –”

“Are we going to wait for mother?” Meg asked.

“She’s got that lecture at the university tonight, remember?” Dennys said.

“We can do batch number two with her tomorrow,” Sandy added. “Anyway, roasting squash.”

Dennys was already cutting the squash lengthwise, and plopping the halves onto baking sheets. “Oven’s preheated,” he said.

“I’ll make apple cider,” Charles Wallace said, appearing in the doorway.

“Not going to help with the soup?” Meg asked, giving him a hug.

“I’ll leave that to the experts,” Charles Wallace said, taking the cider jug into the lab.

“I’m glad you accept our superiority in this matter,” Dennys called after him.

“Heat the cider up on the stove weirdo!” Sandy said at the same time. “I for one don’t want to get whatever weird parasite mother is cooking up in there.”

The clattering of Charles Wallace putting the sauce pan over the Bunsen burner came from the lab. Fort let out a soft, contented bark. Meg smiled at the happy noise of the house.

“What can I do while the squash is roasting?” she asked.

Sandy set a large soup pot on the stove with a gentle bang. “Vegetable oil. It needs to heat up, but not so it’s spitting. I’ll chop the onions and garlic and ginger.”

“And I’ll grab a handkerchief for Sandy,” Dennys joked.

Sandy chucked an onion at Dennys, “You can help me, jolly joker.”

The smell of cider and cinnamon drifted in from the lab, mixing with the sharp eye-watering scents of the onions and garlic, and the warm smell of the squash in the oven.

Charles Wallace brought them all mugs of warm apple cider, and sat down on the floor at Fort’s head to watch.

“Okay,” Sandy said. “We need to throw these all into the pot with the cinnamon and – Dennys stop eating the brown sugar.”

“It spilled,” Dennys said sheepishly, slowly removing his sugar coated finger from his mouth.

“Do we have to stir it?” Meg asked.

“Nope,” Dennys said. “Just cover her up and we’ll have an – ”

“APPLE CIDER BREAK,” the twins exclaimed at the same time.

“Oh,” Charles Wallace said, “I already finished mine.”

The squash came out of the oven around the same time the onion was beginning to soften.

“So we need to peel this and dice it,” Dennys said, picking up a squash half and immediately dropping it. “Ouch! Hot!”

“I could have told you that,” Meg said, chuckling.

Once the squash was cut, they added it to the pot.

“And we also add the chicken broth now,” Dennys said.

Meg surveyed the counter, “Was I supposed to buy broth as well?”

“No we have a ton in the…” Dennys started.

“…Freezer,” Sandy finished.

The twins looked at each other.

“We were supposed to let that thaw today,” Dennys said.

“Yup,” Sandy agreed.

Meg had retrieved the jars of broth from the freezer. “We can just defrost them on the stove,” she said.

They all looked at the stove, which was pretty much dominated by the soup pot, and the pan of apple cider, which Charles Wallace had brought in for quicker access.

Charles Wallace grinned, “This sounds like a job for the Bunsen burner!”

The twins groaned, but in no time the broth was defrosted and boiling merrily away in the soup pot.

“We just simmer this for ten minutes,” Sandy said.

“Apple cider break?” Dennys said hopefully.

“Clean up break,” Meg said.

Once everything was cleaned and put away, Dennys took the pot off the heat.

“Once this cools a bit, we’ll have to puree it,” he said.

Meg looked from the giant pot to the small blender.

“We do it in batches,” Sandy said, interpreting her look.

Charles Wallace stood on tiptoe and peered into the pot, “Maybe I should test it first to make sure it taste’s alright.”

“If you wanna burn yourself,” Dennys said, smacking away his hand, which was drifting over the edge of the pot.

Charles Wallace grumped. Meg laughed.

* * *

 

 It was nearly midnight by the time Dr Murry got home from her lecture, what with questions and offers of drinks and trying to catch a ride home. The children were all in bed, even Meg. Alex was in Washington. Even Fort barely lifted his head as she closed the pantry door quietly behind her. She looked around the kitchen, the soft light from the single lamp the children had left on illuminating the counters. Something was sitting in the middle of the counter, covered in a tea towel. There was a note on top of the towel, in Meg’s messy scrawl.

_Mother,_

_Here’s some of the soup we made today. Hope the lecture went well._

_Love,_

_Meg, Dennys, Sandy and Charles Wallace_

And underneath, in Charles Wallace’s precise printing,

_P.s._

_The apple cider is from me!_

_-CW_


End file.
